UK PM calls for emergency session

LONDON - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday called for an emergency session of parliament to brief lawmakers on a spreading phone hacking scandal, trying to gain control of a crisis that is threatening Rupert Murdoch's media empire, the upper echelons of London's police force and the country's leader himself.

The scandal forced two of London's top police officers to resign in less than 24 hours.

Scotland Yard Chief Paul Stephenson stepped down on Sunday night, followed out the door on Monday by Assistant Commissioner John Yates. Yates was the official who decided two years ago not to reopen police inquiries into phone hacking and police bribery by tabloid journalists, saying he did not believe there was any new evidence to consider.